Begin your discovery of Beijing with a guided visit to Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest public square and the symbolic heart of modern China. Surrounded by landmarks such as the Great Hall of the People and the Monument to the People’s Heroes, it’s a powerful introduction to the nation’s past and present.
From here, step into the awe-inspiring Forbidden City, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed complex that once housed 24 emperors across the Ming and Qing dynasties. Wander through palatial halls and serene courtyards as your guide reveals the rich symbolism behind its ancient treasures.
This afternoon, choose to delve deeper into local life with an optional tour of Beijing’s hutongs — narrow alleyways where traditional courtyard homes reveal centuries of community culture (surcharges apply). Conclude your day with a quintessential dining experience: a Peking duck banquet at a local restaurant, savouring the city’s most famous dish.
Leave the city life behind as you strike out for the utterly breathtaking Great Wall of China. Travel to Juyong Pass, carving an imposing line through the valley of the Changping District. Surrounded by mountains on either side, this is one of the most historically significant and impenetrable segments of the Great Wall. Admire the vast mountain scenery as you walk along this architectural wonder, then continue to a local jade factory for the opportunity to witness a traditional trade and maybe purchase a handcrafted souvenir.
This evening, you might like to watch an acrobatic kung fu performance (surcharges apply).
Travel time: Driving – approx. two hours
Great Wall of China visit
After breakfast, meet in the lobby and transfer to the station for your train bound for Xi’an. Board your high-speed G-train in Second Class seats.
On arrival in Xi’an, you’ll be met and transferred to your Shangri-La hotel for check-in. Spend the rest of the day at your leisure before the option to join a night tour to experience the city’s evening atmosphere (surcharges apply).
Travel time: Train – approx. five hours
High-speed G train trip (bullet train)
Wake to breakfast and the promise of an adventurous day in Xi’an, where China’s dynastic legacy is built into the 14th-century city walls.
Start your day at a Terracotta Warriors workshop, where artisans craft detailed replicas of the famous army. Then, continue to Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum to admire the real thing. One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th-century, this vault of terracotta-sculpted warriors is credited to the rule of unified China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Since its unexpected discovery, archaeologists have pored over the individual faces and assembled masses of these solemn statues in search of historic insights.
Savour lunch at a local restaurant before you’re transferred to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (XIY) for your flight to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). On arrival, you’ll be transferred to your luxury Shangri-La accommodation in Pudong, set in the heart of this dynamic city.
Travel time: Flight – approx. 2.5 hours
Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum visit
Spend the day in the heart of Shanghai, beginning with a stroll through Yuyuan Bazaar, where cobbled streets are lined with shops selling herbal medicines, handicrafts, Chinese tea and local snacks. Step into the Yu Gardens, a serene example of classical Chinese landscaping, featuring jade rock formations, goldfish ponds and elegant pavilions, built by Ming-era governor Pan Yunduan as a retirement gift for his father.
Next, visit the Bund, where Shanghai’s colonial history unfolds along the waterfront. Admire buildings from 1850s trade houses to 1920s Art Deco landmarks, including banks, hotels and the iconic customs house. Explore a local silk mill to see the production of luxurious silk from silkworm to finished fabric.
For a different perspective, consider an optional Huangpu River cruise (surcharges apply).
Tonight, enjoy a farewell dinner with the group before your onward journey to Lhasa.
Leave Shanghai’s skyline behind as you journey towards the breathtaking heights of Tibet. You will transfer to the airport for your flight to Lhasa, tracing the Himalayan foothills as you descend into Tibet.
On arrival, your guide will be waiting to welcome you and settle you into your hotel. Today is all about taking it slow — rest, hydrate, and let your body adjust to Tibet’s rarefied air, with portable oxygen cans included and time to acclimatise before the adventure ahead.
Travel time: Flight – duration to be confirmed; driving – approx. one hour
Spend the day immersed in Lhasa’s spiritual core. Begin at the seventh-century Jokhang Temple, the most sacred site in Tibetan Buddhism, where the air hangs thick with incense and centuries of devotion.
At Sera Monastery, watch monks engage in animated philosophical debate - a Tibetan tradition unlike anything you’ve seen, all sharp gestures and quick-fire logic played out in the courtyard. Round out the day with a stroll along the Barkhor circuit, the ancient pilgrimage path that has drawn the faithful in a slow, clockwise procession around the temple for over a thousand years, before returning to your hotel.
Rise above the city itself at the Potala Palace, the towering former residence of the Dalai Lamas and one of the great architectural wonders of the world, its whitewashed walls climbing the hillside in tiers. Inside, a maze of chapels, shrines, and burial stupas tells the story of Tibetan Buddhism across centuries. Next, trade grandeur for tranquility at Norbulingka, the former summer palace, where manicured gardens, pavilions, and quiet courtyards once offered the Dalai Lama respite from formal life in the Potala.
Leave Lhasa behind and climb into Tibet’s high-altitude heartland, a landscape of stark ridgelines, prayer-flag-strung passes, and horizons that seem to stretch forever. The road winds past Yamdrok-Tso, one of Tibet’s three holiest lakes, its waters an almost impossible shade of turquoise against the brown hills. Further on, the Karola Glacier spills down almost to the roadside, close enough to feel the chill in the air, before you descend into Gyantse for the night.
Begin the morning at Pelkor Monastery, home to the extraordinary multi-tiered Kumbum stupa, its walls layered with thousands of painted Buddhas across a hundred tiny chapels. Nearby, the weathered ruins of Gyantse’s Old Fort stand watch over the valley, a reminder of the town’s history as a former stronghold on the trade route between Tibet and India. From here, continue on to Shigatse, Tibet’s second-largest city and a longstanding centre of Tibetan Buddhist scholarship and culture.
Spend the morning at Tashilhunpo Monastery, the official residence of the Panchen Lama and one of the great monastic complexes of the Gelug tradition. Then swap the road for the rails, boarding a bullet train back to Lhasa—a swift, scenic return across the plateau after days of mountain driving. On arrival, transfer to your hotel and enjoy a well-earned afternoon at leisure.
After breakfast, transfer to Lhasa Gonggar International Airport (LXA) for your onward journey. As you leave the plateau behind, take a moment to reflect on a journey through some of the highest, most sacred landscapes on Earth - from the Potala’s golden rooftops to the turquoise waters of Yamdrok-Tso - before your China and Tibet adventure comes to a close.